Monday, July 2, 2012

We bought a...

We bought a pool! It was a bit spur of the moment. We were lazing about after breakfast on Saturday wondering what to do for the day when I suggested putting up a pool. Seeing as how he'd already done some homework on the topic, that's all it took and Justin transformed into a kid in a candy shop. We decided on an Intex pop-up pool. It's 14 feet in diameter, 48 inches in depth. For our first pool and a pop-up at that, it's really not too shabby. It was, however, a bit more of a process than initially anticipated.

First we had to select where we wanted to position the pool in the yard. Choosing a level location was a challenge. Our neighbor had some handy tools to determine how much digging was necessary to get it 100% level.

Next we borrowed a rototiller to help with the leveling process. This was a two person process with Justin handling the machinery, myself raking out the sod. We also used about 550 pounds of sand to create a smooth base. It was so hot that we enjoyed a few cold ones at this stage in the process. The cap to mine seemed fitting.

Dig and be dug...

Then it was time for assembly. This took place Sunday morning because we had a Jack & Jill Wedding Shower Saturday afternoon. Believe it or not, this part went rather quickly with no real hiccups.

Justin took care of the electrical component, installing a GFCI outlet in the garage for the pool filter to connect to. This took a few tries but we finally got it right.

Now for the worst part of the process... waiting for the pool to fill. It took from10:30am until 11:30pm before the pool was filled to capacity. I can only imagine if we had a small child writhing in anticipation of pool play time because Justin was equally as antsy throughout the day. To keep him preoccupied we went out and bought a few play things for the pool (blow up chairs, ring toss, etc).

As of this morning we've added the necessary chemicals to the water with the filter running. We did notice that pool sank a little in the sand on the one side, so now we're about 2" shy of level. We just know for next year to build back up the one section of ground. Practice makes perfect. Rome wasn't built in a day. I'm sure there are other cliches to list here, but you get my point.

Anyone else have a pool building experience to share? Any particular experiences with Intex pools that we should be made aware of?